APUSH DBQ Tips
DBQ/FRQ Essay Writing Guide How the Exam Works. The APUSH exam consists of two parts. Part 1 is the 80 question multiple choice section in which you have 55 minutes to complete. Part 2 consists of writing a total of three essays. The first essay is called the document-based question (DBQ) because you are given 9-13 documents which should be used to answer the essay prompt. The next two essays are the free-response questions (FRQ). You will be given four essay promts to read. Two prompts are from pre-civil war era and the other two are from post-civil war era. Test takers are expected to write one essay from each set for a total of two essays. Timing for part 2 of the exam is as follows: